Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access - Special Topic: Building an Access Office in the 5G Era Expert Views - ZTE Corporation
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OCT 2018 VOL. 20 · NO. 5 ISSUE 178
VIP Voice
Getting Prepared for 5G Commercialization
Expert Views
Building an Access Office in the 5G Era
Special Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
Scan for mobile reading
CONTENTS ZTE TECHNOLOGIES OCT 2018
VIP Voice
02
02 Getting Prepared for 5G Commercialization
Reporter: Sun Dong
Expert Views
05 Building an Access Office in the 5G Era
By Chen Aimin
08 Research on 25G WDM-PON Bearer for 5G Fronthaul
By Li Yufeng
Special Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
05
12 Fixed Mobile Convergent Access in the 5G Era
By Li Yufeng
16 Access Network Convergence Solutions
By Chen Aimin
08 20 Multi-Service and Multi-Tenant Scenario:
A Typical Application of NFV in Access Network
By Diao Yuanjiong
ZTE TECHNOLOGIES
TITAN Advisory Committee
Director: Wang Xiang
Deputy Directors : Sun Fangping, Yu Yifang,
Zhang Wanchun, Zhu Yongxing
20 Advisers: Bai Yanmin, Chen Jian,
Chen Yufei, Cui Li, Cui Liangjun, Fang Hui,
Heng Yunjun, Liu Jianhua, Meng Qingtao,
Sun Peng, Ye Ce
39
Editorial Board
Director: Wang Xiang
24 Deputy Directo r: Huang Xinming
Members: Han Gang, Huang Xinming,
Jiang Wen, Liu Qun, Wang Xiang,
Wang Quan, Zhang Zhenchao
Sponsor: ZTE Corporation
24 Converging Access Network with OTN and BNG to
Flatten the Overall Network
Edited By
1
Corporate Development Department
By Jiang Xiaolin Editor-in-Chief: Wang Xiang OCT 2018
Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Huang Xinming ZTE
Editorial Director: Liu Yang
28 Discussion on Applying a Converged CDN
in the Access Office
Execut ive Editor-in-Chief: Yue Lihua
Circulatio n Manager: Wang Pingping
By Tian Hongliang
32 Technical Analysis of CloudCO Architecture
Address: NO. 55, Hi-tech Road South,
By Xie Yu
Shenzhen, P.R.China
Postcode: 518075
Tel: +86-755-26775211
36 Single-Wavelength 50G PON Implementation
and Its Application Prospects
Fax: +86-755-26775217
Website : wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/about/
publications
By Huang Xingang
Email: yue.lihua@zte.com.cn
Success Story Statement: This magazine is a free
publication for you. If you do not want
to receive it in the future, you can send
the “TD unsubscribe” mail to
39 MPT JO: Reviving the Broadband Market in Myanmar magazine@zte.com.cn. We will not
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receiving your email. Thank you for
By Li Taozhu your support.
VIP Voice
27
SEP2018
OCT 2016
ZTE
ZTE
Getting Prepared
for 5G Commercialization
Reporter: Sun Dong
Bai Yang, CTO of ZTE Asia & CIS Region
D
uring 5G Asia 2018 held on this region.
September 18–20 in Singapore,
Bai Yang, CTO of ZTE Asia What kind of role is ZTE playing in Asia
& CIS Region, talked to ZTE Pacific’s 5G development?
Technologies about the 5G
development in Asia Pacific and ZTE’s role in the Taking 5G development as its core strategy, ZTE
region’s emerging 5G landscape. establishes leadership in the commercialization, the
core technologies and the economies of scale for
What do you think of Asia Pacific’s 5G 5G. ZTE, in close cooperation with China Mobile,
development as compared to the rest of the AIS and other mainstream carriers, has deployed a
world? series of 5G trial networks to get prepared for 5G
commercialization.
More than half of the world’s mobile subscribers With complete product lines, ZTE can provide
are in Asia Pacific, which also includes the world’s end-to-end 5G solutions covering wireless, core
two biggest mobile markets, China and India. Asia network and bearer network. ZTE holds lots of
Pacific has seen a rapid growth of 4G services due to 5G-related core patents. As the first drafter of
3
extensive 4G deployments in the region. China, Japan, nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA), ZTE led
OCT 2018
South Korea, and Australia have completed lots of 5G the adoption of NOMA by the 3GPP RAN Working
ZTE
verification tests based on existing networks and will Group 1. Another core technology multi-user shared
be the first countries to commercialize 5G services access (MUSA) proposed by ZTE is also expected to
by 2019. It is expected that led by these pioneering become a 5G standard.
countries, Asia Pacific will be the largest 5G region TDD-LTE lays the basis for 5G. ZTE’s TDD
in the world by 2025, and lead in the development of shipments have, for four consecutive years,
5G ecosystem. accounted for one third of the world’s total,
which lays the foundation for 5G’s advanced
What’s ZTE’s current focus in Asia Pacific? commercialized use and cost savings. China Mobile
has deployed more than 3 million 4G base stations
Asia Pacific is always our most important across China. As China Mobile’s major 4G supplier,
overseas market. Indonesia, India, Japan, Myanmar ZTE will deploy a large-scale 5G network for them
and Thailand are five biggest markets in this in the next two years, which could effectively lower
region. Vietnam and Philippines, two densely the cost of 5G products.
populated and rapidly developing countries, are In addition, ZTE has actively participated in
also important markets that we’ll expand into. With many standardization bodies such as ITU, 3GPP
20 years of presence in the Asia-Pacific telecoms and IEEE. It has also joined organizations such
market, we have established long-term strategic as the 5G Automotive Association to explore 5G
partnership with major carriers like SoftBank, applications with industry partners, and cooperated
SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Ooredoo, Hutchison, and of with many top universities around the world to build
course, three Chinese carriers. We have been their 5G research centers. We can say that ZTE is leading
most reliable partner and guide for technology the way to 5G.
innovation. From a product perspective, we focus
on future-oriented technologies like 5G/Pre5G, Could you give us some concrete examples
optical transmission and access, and SDN/NFV in about how ZTE is helping operators transform
VIP Voice
their networks in preparation for 5G in invest in new technologies has decreased, which
Asia Pacific? is not a positive trend. As can be seen from 4G
deployments in the last few years, the carriers
ZTE plans to complete pre-commercial who deployed 4G first in the country, such
deployment of 5G by the end of 2018, and scaled China Mobile, has achieved huge first-mover
deployment of 5G in first half of 2019. ZTE has advantages and seized a large number of users,
established 5G partnerships with over 20 top operators especially high-value users. Carriers should be
around the world, providing products and services for actively involved in 5G testing, and deploy small-
the world’s first 5G commercial deployments. Among scale 5G trial networks in hotspots or large cities
them, China Mobile is the strategic partner that ZTE with controllable investment, to get prepared for
has cooperated for the longest time. commercial 5G deployment.
As early as the first half of 2016, ZTE
has already deployed Pre5G Massive MIMO How can ZTE better help operators cope with
products for China Mobile in 30 provinces in these challenges?
China. Subsequently, the two companies jointly
established a 5G Joint Innovation Center to ZTE can provide end-to-end 5G solutions and
perform tests and verifications of 5G end-to- mature, commercial-ready 5G products, and has
end solution and products. In June 2017, ZTE rich 5G pre-commercial experience. ZTE is willing
47 established China’s first 5G pre-commercial base to provide consulting services for operators and
SEP2018
OCT 2016
station in Guangzhou for China Mobile, achieving develop customized 5G evolution solutions based on
peak data rates of over 2 Gbps for a single UE. In their networks. For operators that are still working
ZTE
ZTE
November 2017, ZTE and China Mobile jointly on large-scale 4G rollouts, ZTE’s 4G and Pre5G
completed field tests of continuous coverage of products support the smooth evolution to 5G without
multiple base stations, which is very close to meet causing investment waste. In addition, compared
commercial network requirements. In December to traditional networks, ZTE’s SDN/NFV-based
2017, ZTE got one-third share of China Mobile’s virtualized core network and transmission network
NB-IoT project. In April 2018, ZTE and China can reduce the costs and the service commissioning
Mobile made the first 5G call compliant with the time. ZTE’s leading GPON products and big video
3GPP R15 standard, formally launching the field platforms can reuse existing network infrastructure,
site for an end-to-end 5G commercial system. helping traditional operators enter a huge new
In terms of 5G applications, ZTE and China market with a small investment, and realize full-
Mobile together joined Baidu’s Apollo Program service transformation.
to verify the application and key technologies of
autonomous driving. ZTE will achieve the first What’s your expectation for ZTE’s growth in
commercial 5G deployment with China Mobile and the Asia-Pacific market?
extend its successful experience to other operators
around the world. As a company that actively embraces change,
ZTE is devoted to research and development of
What are the major challenges in Asia Pacific innovative technologies and deployment of products
in the path towards 5G? and solutions. For the Asia-Pacific region, ZTE
aims to seize the opportunities offered by strategic
In some countries, such as India, Indonesia products including 5G, beyond 100G, and SDN/
and Thailand, due to fierce competition in the NFV, and become a leader in 5G by continuously
telecommunications market, carriers’ profits optimizing its strategic layout regarding customers
have been declining, and their willingness to and products.
Expert Views
Building an
Access Office
Chen Aimin
Chief Engineer for Optical Access Planning, ZTE in the 5G Era
By Chen Aimin
Challenges Facing Access Offices in the 5G Era to users. Service integration is bound to drive network
convergence. 5
T
he access office (AO) is the To ensure the delivery of rich services and
OCT 2018
telecommunications equipment room applications, the 5G network employs a brand-new
ZTE
nearest to end users. It houses OLTs architecture:
and typically covers broadband users ● The 5G core network uses a cloud-based
in a 3 to 5 km radius. In the 4G era, architecture that separates control and forwarding
BBUs are usually pooled, and operators tend to deploy functions and allows for fast deployment of services
a large quantity of BBUs in their AOs to reduce the as needed. The introduction of multi-access edge
number of equipment rooms. Although wireline and computing (MEC) technology pushes service
wireless devices already share an AO in the 4G era, processing closer to the edge and reduces latency.
wireline and wireless are independent of each other in A unified 5G core network provides mobile users
terms of service and network. with consistent services and enables fixed-mobile
Typical application scenarios defined for 5G convergence (FMC), thereby ensuring a seamless
include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) with peak service experience across wireline and wireless
data rates of up to 10 Gbps, massive machine-type scenarios.
communication (mMTC) characterized by a density ● The 5G access network adopts an architecture
of one million connections per square kilometer, where the AAU, DU and CU are separated, and
and ultra-reliable low latency communication the practice of distributing AAUs and pooling
(uRLLC) with a low latency of 1ms required for such DUs is still heavily used. The introduction of high-
applications as the internet of vehicles (IoV). 5G will frequency base stations vastly increases base station
enable the internet of everything (IoE), where humans, density. The scale and complexity of the fronthaul
machines and the environment will be more closely network is substantially expanded, which presents
and efficiently linked, and there will be continuous an unprecedented fiber resource consumption
innovation of the production modes, business models challenge.
and people lifestyles. Network service provision will As the access portal for users in the 5G era, the AO
be based on services instead of access modes because must offer super-high bandwidth, ultra-low latency
whether access is wired or wireless will be irrelevant and differentiated QoS assurances, as shown in Fig. 1.
Expert Views
More importantly, it has to accommodate dynamic low-latency, real-time services can be rapidly
connections brought by cloudification of the 5G core processed to improve user experience. Because
network. The introduction of MEC can move some of the NFVI provides computing and storage
the service processing to the NFV infrastructure (NFVI) capabilities, it can be seen as a remote module of
of the AO. Moreover, the traffic inside the AO between the edge data center (EDC) and the NFV services
the wireline and wireless services and between the running on it are centrally orchestrated and
NFV services on the NFVI also surges. Faced with managed by the 5G core network.
these 5G requirements, traditional AO architecture falls ● Transport function: The AO provides network-side
short and needs a transformation. interfaces to centrally carry wireline and wireless
traffic from the OTN, IPRAN or SPN equipment.
Objectives of Access Office Construction in the 5G Era
Principles of Access Office Construction in the 5G Era
The AO for the 5G era will be an intelligent FMC
equipment room that is superfast, easy to maintain, Since AOs exist in large numbers and vary greatly
flexible, and reliable. While the existing power supply in their hardware conditions and environments,
system (including power backup equipment), cooling transforming all of them in one stroke will incur an
system, monitoring system and wiring routes of the AO enormous workload and a huge investment. Instead,
are kept intact, its internal network is divided into four they should be evolved step by step based on the
functions as shown in Fig. 2: following principles:
● Connection function: Using a leaf-spine data center ● Openness: The interfaces among access function,
topology, the AO can build a high-bandwidth, connection function, NFVI (computing and storage
67 scalable and reliable internal communication network function) and transport function should be open.
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OCT 2016
to support complex communications among the The NFVI is shared by all the functions and users
ZTE
ZTE DU (wireless), OLT (wireline), uplink transmission of the AO.
equipment, and NFVI with QoS assurance. ● Scalability: AOs vary significantly in their hardware
● Access function: The DU is used for wireless conditions including the floor area, power supply
access processing, while the OLT for wireline system and cooling equipment. The access,
access processing. connection, computing & storage, and transport
● NFVI (computing and storage function): The equipment in the AO can be trimmed according
NVFI is deployed in the AO to ensure that to service needs and smoothly expanded as per
5G AAU 5G core network
WDM-PON direct • Unified authentication
fiber connection • Unified QoS
• Service cloudification
4G RRU
Unified ODN planning AO
& construction • Access function
Bearer
Integrated small cell • Fronthaul network • Connection function
network
• Fixed access • NFVI
PON access • Transport function
FMC devices
Internet
CPE
Fig. 1. AO as the portal for wireline and wireless access in the 5G era.
AO
5G AAU
4G RRU Access function
(wireless DU)
Connection Transport
Integrated small cell function function
CPE Access function
(wireline OLT)
FMC terminal
NFVI
Power supply system (including backup)/cooling system/monitoring
system/wiring routes
Fig. 2. Logical architecture of the AO in the 5G era.
functionality and capacity. management by incorporating SDN&NFV can
● Flexibility: The reconstruction of the AO should enable fast end-to-end deployment as well as
be based on smooth evolution of the AO’s existing intelligent operation and maintenance.
7
architecture. Functions can be flexibly deployed ● Step 3: Integrating and optimizing the AO: The
OCT 2018
according to the conditions of the AO and without access function, transport function, connection
ZTE
affecting the operation of the existing services. function, and NFVI (computing and storage
function) of the AO are performed by separate
Steps of Access Office Construction in the 5G Era devices. To save space, simplify deployment, boost
reliability and provide QoS assurances for different
Considering the above-mentioned principles, we services, related functions can be integrated to
suggest building an AO in three steps, which can be reduce the number of network elements. The AO
merged or adjusted if needed: can also be optimized using a standard module. The
● Step 1: Setting up an NFVI: Low-latency, real-time module can selectively house access, connection
NFV services of the 5G era need to be deployed as and transport functions while at the same time
close to end users as possible. To achieve this aim, solving cooling and monitoring issues. After being
the NFVI and the internal communication network tested and verified in the factory, the module can be
supporting the NFVI have to be installed in the directly installed in the AO to cut the engineering
AO. The NFVI, as a remote module of the EDC, is workload. By adding modules as needed, the AO
managed and controlled by the EDC, and enables can be conveniently expanded to keep up with
service deployment under centralized orchestration service demands.
of the 5G core network, thereby ensuring a
smooth switchover of services and consistent user The numerous AOs are an important asset of
experience across wireline and wireless. Such operators. With the trend towards FMC, operators
services include video acceleration, location service, should modernize their AOs in stages so that the AOs
and TCP acceleration. can support full-service bearing, smart operation,
● Step 2: Smartening up the AO: The access, centralized management, fast service deployment, and
transport and connection functions of the AO smooth scalability. Only through such modernizations
are centrally managed to separate equipment can the business value of the AOs be fully tapped in the
management and service management. Service 5G era.
Expert Views
Research on
25G WDM-PON
Bearer for 5G Fronthaul Li Yufeng
Chief Engineer for FN Product Planning, ZTE
By Li Yufeng
Development Progress service transmission for WDM-PON. Annex C of
87
989.2 Am2 defines the network architecture and
W
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OCT 2016
avelength division multiplexing optical layer indices of WR WDM-PON, with the
ZTE
ZTE
passive optical network (WDM-PON) modulation rate specified as 10 Gbps.
combines the WDM technology and International standards for 25G WDM-PON
PON topology structure to provide have not been released, but discussions are already
high bandwidth, low latency, fiber under way. To meet the need of higher bandwidth
savings, plug-and-play optical network units (ONUs), for 5G fronthaul, ITU-T Q2 has begun to work on a
simple OAM, and low costs. Thanks to these strengths, technical white paper about using single-wavelength
WDM-PON is uniquely suited to 5G fronthaul 25G WDM-PON for 5G fronthaul. The research on
applications and has attracted widespread industry efficient fronthaul network architecture that produces
attention in recent years. breakthroughs in high-speed colorless ONU and
The ITU-T G.9802 standard defines the AMCC technologies is key to speeding up the
universal requirements of wavelength routed/ industrialization of WDM-PON standards. In 2014,
wavelength selective (WR/WS) PON application ITU-T SG15 initiated the G.metro standardization
scenarios as well as those of wavelength allocation, work, which was led by China Unicom and involved
tuning and management. In 2015, ITU-T Q2 active participation of mainstream operators and
defined the indices of 8-wavelength point-to- vendors. The standard that was finalized in February
point (PTP) WDM in 989.2 Am1—a specification 2018 as G.698.4 V1.0 defines the 20-/40-wavelength
on the physical media dependent (PMD) layer 10G interface and focuses on a 20 km transmission
of 40-Gigabit-capable passive optical networks distance. G.698.4 will undergo more revisions in the
2 (NG-PON2). WDM-PON requires mature and future to upgrade its interface support to 25G and
reliable OAM mechanisms. Annex B of 989.2 higher rates.
Am1 defines the auxiliary management and In China, the China Communications Standards
control channel (AMCC) to transport wavelength Association (CCSA) has initiated a WDM-PON
allocation information and OAM data, thereby project and is expected to release the relevant standard
achieving wavelength control and transparent in Q3 2018. As for enterprises, China Telecom startedFTTH
SFU/HGU
FTTO Traditional home broadband services
SBU
FTTdp Splitter
DPU
TITAN OLT integrated
SFP ONT/CBU service platform IMS
SFP ONT/CBU
AAU AWG
Convergence
SFP ONT/CBU layer
VoD/IPTV
5G new services D D C
…
U U U
SFP ONT/CBU
SFP ONT/CBU
AAU OTT cloud
SFP ONT/CBU
Mobile core
5G fronthaul 5G middlehaul 5G backhaul network
9
OCT 2018
Fig. 1. The network architecture of WDM-PON 5G fronthaul based on TITAN OLT. ZTE
related standards formulation in Q2 2018 through its PON architecture is based on a point-to-multipoint
Shanghai Research Institute, while China Unicom tree topology of passive optical networks and
plans to publish its 25G WDM-PON standard at the therefore can vastly cut the fiber resources required.
end of 2018. It can also use the idle fiber resources of the
As an important supplementary solution for 5G existing ODN to reduce network construction and
fronthaul, 25G WDM-PON is forecast to commence maintenance costs.
large-scale commercial trials in 2019 to 2020. WDM-PON is a high-performance access scheme
that leverages advantages of the WDM technology and
Technological Analysis PON topology structure. WDM-PON does not permit
bandwidth sharing among users and hence is the best
In 5G greenfield or hotspot scenarios, operators solution to handle a surge in bandwidth demand.
face pressure to reduce the number of sites and Compared with existing mobile fronthaul technologies
leased equipment rooms. The capital expenditure such as dark fiber, passive WDM and active dense
(Capex) on sites and equipment rooms can be wavelength division multiplexing (OTN, DWDM),
significantly cut through centralized deployment. WDM-PON has numerous advantages including high
Consequently, employing centralized radio access bandwidth, low latency, fiber savings, plug-and-play
network (C-RAN) architecture for 5G fronthaul has ONUs, simple OAM, and low costs. These advantages
found great favor with operators. WDM-PON OLT make it better for WDM-PON to satisfy 5G fronthaul
can take advantage of the access office (AO) to requirements such as dense site deployment, growing
enable the deployment of a centralized distributed bandwidth needs, and shorter latency.
unit (DU) pool. When conditions permit, wireline In January 2018, 3GPP released the first version
and wireless AOs can be co-located. The WDM- of Ethernet common public radio interface (eCPRI)Expert Views
specification for 5G fronthaul. 25G eCPRI has been of low-latency forwarding and high-precision time
basically designated as the 5G fronthaul interface, and synchronization for 5G fronthaul. Because TITAN is
25G single channel will be a mainstream interface for deployed in the AO, it can provide a unified 5G bearer
5G fronthaul. 25G WDM-PON is the perfect enabler solution for fronthaul, middlehaul and backhaul. The
of such an interface. network architecture of WDM-PON 5G fronthaul
ZTE has been researching WDM-PON based on TITAN OLT is shown in Fig. 1.
technology since 2010. Collaborating with China ZTE’s WDM-PON 5G fronthaul solution has the
Telecom and the Chinese broadcast and TV sector, following technical advantages:
ZTE conducted research on 64-wavelength 10G ● It supports CPRI and eCPRI standards as well as
WDM-PON equipment and applications, which 4G/5G hybrid networking.
was supported by China’s 863 Program. In 2014, ● It has high bandwidth that supports 25G per
ZTE launched demonstration networks in Wuhan channel and can smoothly evolve to single-
and Shanghai to offer converged services such wavelength 50G in the future.
as internet access and high-definition video for ● It has high density, with a single trunk fiber
thousands of users. In January 2018, ZTE was providing an access capacity of 20×25G.
among the first vendors to complete development ● It provides exclusive bandwidth for a single
and testing of 10G WDM-PON equipment that wavelength, high transmission efficiency, and
met the fronthaul device interface requirements of abundant bandwidth resources.
10
7
China Telecom’s 5G trial in Shanghai. According ● It provides colorless ONU technology that can
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OCT 2016
to the plan, ZTE will also verify the delivery of be used for flexible wavelength allocation and
ZTE
ZTE
wireless services through 5G base stations on the wavelength routing.
existing network. ● Its future colorless small form-factor pluggable
ZTE has launched its TITAN access platform for (SFP) ONU can be directly inserted into the
5G fronthaul. The platform provides high-density 25G active antenna unit (AAU) to improve equipment
WDM-PON cards and addresses technical challenges integration.
● Its arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) has smaller
loss than power splitter. The loss is about 5.5 dBm.
The WDM-PON 5G fronthaul solution allows
for sharing of the existing fiber infrastructure.
While a 5G network needs a lot of fiber resources,
the architecture based on the point-to-multipoint
ZTE has launched its TITAN tree topology of a PON can save large amounts of
access platform for 5G fronthaul. trunk fibers. The existing FTTx networks are big in
The platform offers high-density 25G size with rich line and port resources. A full use of
WDM-PON cards, addresses technical these resources can reduce 5G network deployment
challenges of low-latency forwarding and costs, avoid overlapping investment and increase
high-precision time synchronization, and existing network utilization while improving
provides a unified 5G bearer solution for network coverage.
fronthaul, middlehaul and backhaul. The WDM-PON 5G fronthaul solution also allows
for sharing of the AO resources by wireline and
wireless access. The re-architected AO, in particular,
can make the most of the solution in integrated
network construction and sharing investment. AfterDUs are pooled, wireless and OLT resources can 25G tunable laser is an important 25G WDM-
11
be shared and built as needed. OLT can serve as the PON component. The wavelength tunable ONU
OCT 2018
shared equipment or platform for both wireline and technology is based on the tunable laser and can
ZTE
wireless services. Both the OLT platform and the DU easily implement high-speed transmission when
pool can be deployed in the same AO to remove the integrated with the modulator. Currently, there are
operator’s dependence on sites and rooms and shrink many types of tunable lasers supplied by a variety
their auxiliary equipment and site costs as well as of vendors, but their rates have not yet met the
energy consumption. requirements for 5G fronthaul. Although the digital
Besides, the solution also allows one OLT to supermode-distributed Bragg reflector (DS-DBR)
deliver multiple services, providing unified access to has obvious advantages among the tunable lasers in
home users, government/enterprise users, and 5G base terms of tuning range, integration, modulation rate
stations. This further enhances equipment utilization, and technology maturity, its cost is relatively high.
saves network deployment costs and reduces the Of many technical schemes proposed for tunable
number of sites and rooms being used. lasers, the combination of DS-DBR and Mach-
Zehnder modulator (MZM) is the most mature and
Prospects expected to achieve a transmission rate of 25 Gbps
in 2018. Compared with DS-DBR, other schemes
Photoelectric devices in a WDM-PON system are more cost-effective and have a brighter future
are cutting-edge and highly sophisticated and require after addressing the issues like transmission rate,
the high-end integrated photoelectric chip R&D tunable range and optical power.
and manufacturing capabilities. Mastering the core
technologies of optical sources is essential to bringing In general, the 25G WDM-PON industry chain is
WDM-PON to fruition. basically mature but still needs sustained investment
25G optical receivers such as positive-intrinsic- in chips, modules, equipment and systems to
negative (PIN) photodiodes and avalanche develop key technologies, reduce the cost of core
photodiodes (APDs) have matured, with some devices, establish unified standards, and accelerate
of them already in large-scale commercial use. the productization process.Special Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
Fixed Mobile
Convergent Access
in the 5G Era
By Li Yufeng
12
7
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OCT 2016
Background of FMC Development and cloud-RAN (C-RAN) technologies
ZTE
ZTE
requires a large amount of mobile
F
ixed mobile backhaul networking. In the access
convergence (FMC) segment, in particular, mobile and fixed
allows fixed and mobile networks both need a great deal of
networks to interwork optical infrastructure.
for convergent and full As competition intensifies in an
service operation. The FMC technology increasingly mature telecom market,
provides users with diverse quality operators are compelled to find ways
services including communications, to prevent customer churn and attract
information and entertainment, new users. Since 2012, some operators
independent of the terminal, network, in Europe have gained more mobile
application and location. or fixed users by engaging in mergers
Mobile broadband and fixed and acquisitions (M&A) and tapping
broadband both compete and rely on the potential of existing users. Notable
each other. In areas such as internet cases include the acquisition of British
access and data service, mobile mobile operator EE by incumbent
broadband replaces some of the fixed fixed-network operator British Telecom
network functions. For example, (BT) and the success of Deutsche
smartphones have gradually taken Telekom (DT) in signing up 70% of
the place of fixed terminals including its mobile users to its fixed broadband
computers as the primary mode of services. FMC has become an effective
Li Yufeng accessing the internet. Mobile and fixed means used by operators in their battle
Chief Engineer for FN networks are also interdependent. A for users.
Product Planning, ZTE heterogeneous network based on cellular In the LTE era, an IP multimedia5G converged
core network
Control plane
User plane
Data
network
Fig. 1. FMC architecture in the 5G Era.
subsystem (IMS)-based FMC solution can provide multiple terminals to implement all applications.
fixed and mobile users with unified voice, data and ● Personalized services are supported. End users can
13
video services to improve quality of experience (QoE). set services and interfaces as desired. Fixed networks
OCT 2018
By adopting the new operating model of binding fixed also support diverse settings like smartphones.
ZTE
and mobile users, operators can retain customers,
boost average revenue per user (ARPU) and improve User equipment (UE) in the 5G era falls into
profitability. two types: 5G RG and NG UE (Fig. 1). 5G RG is
In the 5G era, in-depth convergence of cloud an upgraded version of the traditional RG and is
network architecture, virtual network functions (VNFs), connected as a UE to the 5G core network through
and service functions brings new opportunities and a fixed or mobile network. 5G RG can be connected
challenges for FMC. to the core network via fixed wireless access (FWA)
or hybrid links. NG UE is an upgraded version of the
Analysis of Application Scenarios and original UE and is connected to the 5G core network
Technical Architecture through WLAN or cellular networks. NG UE can be
connected via Wi-Fi or cellular networks to offload
FMC services need to have the following some traffic, or via both WLAN and cellular networks.
characteristics: In both cases, RG serves as a trusted node to provide
● Seamless connection is set up between the equipment Wi-Fi access.
and network layers, allowing diverse applications to From the perspective of fixed access node or
be transported between different network platforms. access network for user terminals, 5G FMC involves
Handover between different networks does not architecture convergence and function convergence in
interrupt or degrade quality of service (QoS). the access network.
● Various user access modes are supported. Converged
services and devices can select different access Resource Sharing and Architecture Convergence
modes such as Wi-Fi or cellular networks according
to the user location, required application, QoS and In the 5G era, scenarios such as dense urban or
voice traffic. hotspot areas need to adopt C-RAN architecture where
● Users can use one terminal rather than previous DUs are centrally deployed. For fixed network access,Special Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
the distance from the DU pool to the user is basically ● Unified authentication: Previously fixed and mobile
the same as that from the access office to the user. In users were authenticated by different operating
areas where the access office has ample resources, fixed systems. The FMC architecture allows the users to
and mobile equipment can be co-located so that the be authenticated by one operator. This saves network
resources can be shared to reduce Capex. The existing resources and simplifies the management.
fixed network resources including the access office, ● Unified resource management: With virtualization
power supplies, air-conditioners and transmission and programmable technologies, some overlapping
equipment can be shared, which facilitates the functions of the fixed and mobile networks can
centralized equipment management (Fig. 2). be abstracted and converged, and the operator’s
resources can be orchestrated in a unified manner.
Network Simplification and Function Convergence
There are three typical 5G FMC access modes
Network architecture, operation and maintenance currently being discussed by the standards bodies 3GPP
can be simplified to reduce Opex. The overlapping part and BBF, aiming to converge functions and simplify the
of authentication, control and management functions of network (Fig. 1).
the fixed and mobile networks are converged to provide ● Integration mode: The access gateway function
users with consistent service experience and boost (AGF) is provided at the access node and can be
network operation and maintenance. After convergence, directly connected to the 5G CN. Key modules
the fixed and mobile networks can provide: include 5G RG and AGF.
14
7 ● Standard interfaces: The 5G core network becomes ● Interworking mode: In the existing access mode,
SEP2018
OCT 2016
more functionally independent. It is decoupled the transmission equipment (such as BNG) that
ZTE
ZTE from access modes and gradually transforms into interconnects with CN supports fixed-mobile
an agnostic architecture. By reducing AN-CN interworking function (FMIF) interface. Key
interface coupling, seamless and agnostic access modules include FN-RG and FMIF. The FN-RG is a
can be achieved. traditional RG that can provide Wi-Fi access.
Fig. 2. New 5G architecture enables convergence of fixed-mobile resources.Fig. 3. Interfaces between 5G AN and core network in the integration mode.
15
● Hybrid mode: Fixed access and cellular access co- Industry Development and Network Evolution OCT 2018
exist in this mode.
ZTE
Of the three modes, integration is the most FMC has attracted widespread attention in the
recommended mode because its network has the industry. The operators that have engaged in discussions
simplest architecture. As L3 is moved down to the on 5G FMC standards at 3GPP and BBF are AT&T, BT,
access node, the control and user plane interfaces to China Mobile, DT, KT, NTT, Orange, Telecom Italia,
5G CN are more direct, which reduces the amount of Telefonica, Telenor and Vodafone. They all have both
intermediary transmission equipment. fixed and mobile network resources.
Re-architected access office (AO) makes it easier to The research paper on 5G FMC standardization at BBF
deploy future SDN and NFV services such as 5G AGF. is SD-407: 5G Fixed Mobile Convergence Study, while the
In terms of functionality and location, 5G AGF will research at 3GPP is included in Release 15 SA2 TS23.706.
best run on the NFVI of the access office. That enables The research and cooperation at 3GPP corresponding to the
the NFV platform in the re-architected AO to be fully Release 16 timetable will soon kick off.
used to implement in-depth architecture and function The evolution target of FMC networks in the 5G
convergence required by FMC. era involves implementing agnostic access with a non-
In the integration mode, all mobile users are 3GPP access network based on the 5G core network,
connected via wired access, and are provided with making 5G networks more flexible with modular
converged 5G CN functions. The N1’/N2’/N3’/N4’ software and software-driven function development,
interfaces in Fig. 3 are interfaces between wired AN supporting new 5G use cases in the industrial, public
and core network. All mobile devices are connected and user networks with the future-proof architecture and
to NG-RG (also called 5G RG), where user access design, and converging more access network services
to the core network is authenticated. The core with a converged cloud-based network platform.
network only needs to authenticate and charge NG- The 5G FMC architecture is still being discussed.
RG, without authenticating and charging individual Many issues need to be resolved with input from
mobile devices connected to NG-RG such as UEs, operators and vendors, which will promote the continuous
PADs, and PCs. improvement of the 5G FMC solution.Special Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
Access Network
Convergence Solutions
By Chen Aimin
16
7
SEP2018
OCT 2016
Trend Toward Access Network 5G that could achieve much
Convergence higher speeds than 4G is nearing
ZTE
ZTE
commercialization. 5G will provide the
A
fter ten years of high internet of everything (IoE) connectivity
speed development, that is ubiquitous, convenient, fast,
optical broadband smart and reliable, which will trigger
access has expanded a revolution in production modes,
from traditional home business models and people lifestyles.
broadband into other fields. Driven by Network service provision will be
big video, 5G services, and SDN/NFV based on services instead of access
evolution, optical broadband access modes because whether access is wired
has reached a new development stage or wireless will be irrelevant to users.
with the ultimate goal of fixed-mobile Service convergence is bound to drive
convergence (FMC). network convergence, which in turn will
With the development of 4K/8K lead to equipment integration.
HD video services, home broadband is Furthermore, network architecture
moving from the traditional 100M era is becoming increasingly flat and
to the 1G era. Hence, the deployment simple, which requires the access
of 10G PON has become a focus of equipment to be integrated for
attention. High bandwidth requires centralized management. Meanwhile,
large-capacity central office equipment. the maturity of SDN/NFV also drives a
New-generation OLTs basically match profound transformation of the network
convergence equipment in switching architecture. A wireline network
Chen Aimin capacity and slot bandwidth, and it is including optical access needs to
Chief Engineer for Optical inevitable that the OLTs will integrate conform to this trend, which necessitates
Access Planning, ZTE with the convergence equipment. adjustments to equipment form factors.Fig. 1. TITAN-based WDM-PON fronthaul networking solution.
For access offices where space, power consumption and TITAN also offers multiple convergence solutions for
performance restrict each other, integration of access the 5G era including 5G fronthaul and backhaul, built-
and other equipment is inevitable. in CDN, built-in BNG and built-in OTN, to fulfill 17
the requirements of high bandwidth, low latency and OCT 2018
TITAN-Based Integrated Access Solutions differentiated QoS.
ZTE
ZTE’s TITAN is designed to accommodate access TITAN-Based 5G Fronthaul
network development trends and help operators
implement service convergence. Based on a high-end A WDM-PON architecture uses a point-to-multipoint
router platform, it converge with products like PTN, tree topology to save massive amounts of fiber or uses
high-end router, and OTN in terms of architecture, the idle fiber resources of the existing PON to reduce
allows mixed insertion of cards, and supports built- network construction and maintenance costs. Fig. 1 shows
in X86 blade servers. Different integrated products a TITAN-based unified 5G optical access platform. The
can be rapidly launched to meet operators’ network re- 5G DU pool and AAU are connected through the WDM-
architecture needs. PON to fronthaul mobile services. This solution supports
In addition to the traditional fixed access services, management of transparent service transmission.
Access layer Convergence layer Core layer
Small cell ONU
Small cell ONU OLT R R
Small cell ONU
EPC
OLT R R
Fig. 2. TITAN-based 5G small cell backhaul solution.Special Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
The TITAN OLT unified optical access platform can functions and IP FRR-based service protection
be deployed according to the specific field conditions. functionality. The new-generation TITAN OLT adopts a
If conditions permit, the wired and wireless access fully distributed router-style hardware architecture and
offices can be co-located. A dedicated OLT-based basically matches IPRAN equipment in capabilities.
fronthaul network can be built when large fronthaul In the future, TITAN will support such technologies
capacity is required. as segment routing and smooth migration to SDN,
The TITAN-based WDM-PON 5G fronthaul allowing forwarding and control separation, cloud-
network architecture has several features. It supports based control plane, and open APIs for rapid service
both CPRI and eCPRI standards as well as 4G/5G deployment and automated O&M. Moreover, the
hybrid networking, and provides large bandwidth with TITAN with a support for network slicing can realize
25 Gbps per channel (smooth upgrade to 50 Gbps per service isolation and domain-based management.
wavelength in the future). It also features high density,
with an OLT card providing 16 wavelength channels TITAN’s Built-in BNG
and a single backbone fiber offering 16×25G access
capability. Multiple wavelengths are first converged In the cloud-based BNG solution, the BNG control
by an AWG and then distributed to branch fibers, thus plane runs in a cloud, while the BNG forwarding plane
saving substantial backbone fiber resources. is moved to the TITAN. This mechanism integrates the
OLT with the traditional BNG forwarding plane and
TITAN-Based 5G Backhaul avoids the deployment of dedicated BRAS equipment
for a forwarding plane, thus flattening the network and
Compared with 5G fronthaul, 5G backhaul has lower reducing the network cost (Fig. 3). These two planes
18
7 bandwidth and latency requirements. Especially, 5G can be implemented using interfaces such as OpenFlow
SEP2018
OCT 2016 low-frequency integrated small cells with high density (OF) and Netconf. When control is decoupled from
ZTE
ZTE deployments require less than 5 Gbps bandwidth. forwarding, the control plane can be based on a
TITAN uses the TDM-PON to carry the small cell universal hardware platform, helping operators reduce
backhaul traffic, which can reuse an operator’s existing investment and O&M complexity. The forwarding
ODN (Fig. 2). As the TDM-PON develops and plane is controlled centrally by an SDN architecture.
bandwidth demand increases, 10G PON technology An SDN controller, which integrates management
has matured and higher-rate 50G PON technology will and control functionalities, and a service orchestrator
be introduced. In actual deployments, small split ratios are deployed to enable end-to-end automatic network
such as 1:8 can be selected and, in light of the user configuration and opening up of network capabilities.
traffic concurrency rate, a single PON port can be used
to serve multiple 5G small cells, to substantially reduce TITAN’s Built-in A-CDN
operator Capex.
5G backhaul equipment needs complete L3 As shown in Fig. 4, a CDN edge node, called an
DC
vBNG MANO
SDN
controller
OF/Netconf
Splitter
Enterprise users
Metro Backbone
network network
OLT
CR
ONU
Home users
Fig. 3. TITAN’s built-in BNG solution.CDN central node IPTV
Hot videos
IP/MPLS network
Non-hot videos
Fig. 4. TITAN’s built-in A-CDN solution.
access CDN (A-CDN), is deployed through building transmission efficiency.
blade servers into an OLT. A-CDN mainly stores time- ● Shared infrastructure: The TITAN OLT with its
shifted TV (TSTV), TV on demand (TVOD), and hotly built-in blade servers constitutes an edge cloud
sought-after VOD programs. TITAN offloads local computing platform and an NFVI platform, which
traffic through its GW proxy functionality so that users can be shared by VNF, CDN and other edge
can access programs stored in the nearest A-CDN. By computing services. This advances the construction
intercepting 70% of the VOD traffic, the following of edge and service clouds at a low cost.
objectives can be achieved: 19
● Improving user experience: High-bit-rate 4K/8K/ TITAN’s Built-in OTN for Integrated Transmission
OCT 2018
VR services can be deployed close to end users to and Access
ZTE
take advantage of the high bandwidth of PON. This
ensures high throughput, low latency, no congestion TITAN can include built-in 100G OTN cards
and great service experience. It can also effectively to integrate transmission and access. Managed by a
cope with the traffic bursts caused by heavy demand unified network management system, it realizes end-
for hot videos within a short period of time. to-end mapping of user traffic into OTN timeslots,
● Saving network bandwidth: By deploying services simplifies service deployment and O&M, and
close to end users and intercepting 70% of the VOD enables end-to-end deployment of large-granularity,
traffic, A-CDN significantly reduces the bandwidth low-latency services while ensuring that service
required by the convergence network, metro transmission is transparent with fixed latency and no
network and related network equipment and the jitters. Furthermore, in contrast to the traditional OTN
load on the CDN central node, effectively cutting equipment, the TITAN with integrated transmission and
the bearing cost of the big video network. access reduces equipment room space and decreases
● Simplifying engineering implementation: The power consumption, hence considerably cutting Capex
TITAN with built-in blade servers supports low and Opex for the operators.
power consumption, high performance, on-
demand deployment and strong scalability. It does Conclusion
not require reconstruction of the equipment room
and frequent network upgrades, greatly reducing With a deep understanding of the network trends
the workload of service deployment and capacity and the aim of delivering FMC services, ZTE has
expansion. launched an innovative integrated OLT architecture,
● Efficient and smart CDN: A-CDN can use real- and a series of solutions, including 5G fronthaul
time information of the access network to schedule and backhaul, built-in BNG, built-in A-CDN, and
content and services in a smart, efficient way to transmission/access integration, to help operators
further improve user experience and network prepare for the 5G era.Special Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
Multi-Service and Multi-
Tenant Scenario:
A Typical Application of NFV
in Access Network
By Diao Yuanjiong
20
7
Requirements for Multi-Service government and enterprise business.
SEP2018
OCT 2016
and Multi-Tenant Access Typical 5G multi-service scenarios are
ZTE
ZTE enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB),
I
n the optical access massive machine-type communication
network (OAN), optical (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency
distribution network communication (uRLLC).
(ODN) is a key resource Multi-tenant sharing allows an
and an important asset access network to simultaneously
for operators. In addition to vigorously provide services for multiple operators,
deploying FTTH-based home broadband that is, multiple operators share the
services in the areas covered by existing same access network. The operator who
ODNs, operators also actively develop owns an access network is called the
other services and explore new business infrastructure provider (InP), while the
models including network leasing/ operator who leases the access network
sharing to boost revenue and shorten the for business operation is called the
investment return cycle. virtual network operator (VNO). As
In a multi-service scenario, the agreed in the business contract, the InP
access network concurrently provides logically partitions the access network
access to multiple services. In other and assigns the resources of a logical
words, multiple services share the partition to a VNO so that the VNO can
same access network. An operator independently operate them.
uses the same access network to Multi-service and multi-tenant access
operate multiple services and offer can be understood as two dimensions of
Diao Yuanjiong differentiated QoS guarantees. Typical access network sharing. Multi-service
Chief Engineer for FN fixed-line multi-service scenarios access is the horizontal dimension, where
Product Planning, ZTE include home broadband as well as the access network is shared by differentTITAN
services; multi-tenant access is the vertical dimension, (NFaaS). Therefore, NFV can be introduced in the 21
where the access network is shared by different access network to meet the need of network functions OCT 2018
operators. The two dimensions can exist concurrently. as different roles such as end users, VNOs and an InP ZTE
For example, a public access network is planned in the in a complex multi-service multi-tenant scenario.
Xiong’an New Area in China’s northern province of Currently most network devices are purpose-
Hebei. The access network can be shared by the three built in their entirety or their hardware. They come
major operators in the country—China Unicom, China from only a few vendors, cost a lot and are difficult to
Mobile and China Telecom. Each operator can operate scale. These problems can all be addressed by NFV.
multiple services such as home broadband, base station Through functional analysis, logical partitioning,
backhaul, and enterprise leased line. network function (NF) module setting, NF module
In a complex access network sharing scenario where function definition, NF module interface definition and
multiple services and tenants co-exist, different VNOs NF module development, NFV enables one or more
provide their users with services that fulfill respective virtual network functions (VNFs) to run on commercial
service level agreements (SLAs). The access network off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. Thanks to NFV, a
needs to support concurrent, independent management combination of COTS hardware and VNFs can even
by multiple VNOs and to provide differentiated QoS be used to replace some types of purpose-built network
guarantees for multiple services. To implement multi- devices and hardware.
service access and multi-tenant sharing of the optical NFV decouples network functions and purpose-
access network, an InP must consider and plan for built devices, offering operators more choices and
network architecture evolution and select a proper new- greater flexibility in the use of network equipment.
generation optical access solution. In addition to purchasing COTS hardware like
blade servers and storage devices, operators can
Introduction of Network Functions even develop VNF software to implement specific
Virtualization service management and control functions to provide
differentiated services.
Network functions virtualization (NFV) has To enable application scenarios where the access
the ability to provide network function as a service network is shared by multiple services and tenants, theSpecial Topic: Fixed-Mobile Convergent Access
new-generation optical access solution needs to have The NFV deployment strategy of the TITAN
the following capabilities: solution complies with the BBF TR-384 specification—
● On-demand network connectivity that allows for Cloud Central Office Reference Architectural
easy control of the connections between end users Framework. Some highly real-time service
and VNFs management and control functions, including PLOAM
● VNF as a service that facilitates customization by and DBA of GPON as well as LACP, xSTP and OAM
VNOs of Ethernet, are encapsulated as physical network
● NFV infrastructure (NFVI) that enables VNOs to functions (PNFs) and kept in TITAN. The other
develop their own VNFs. management and control functions can be deployed
according to customer requirements either in VNFs in
TITAN Enables Multi-Service and Multi-Tenant the cloud or in PNFs in physical devices (Fig. 1).
Scenario A highlight of the TITAN solution being
applied in an access network sharing scenario is the
ZTE’s TITAN is a new-generation OLT that implementation of physical resource abstraction, data
supports NFV evolution and can meet the need for modeling and resource mapping on generic compute
multi-service and multi-tenant applications in an access and storage resources in the cloud. This implementation
network sharing scenario. is carried out by ZTE’s ElasticNet unified management
22
7 VNO1 VNO2
SEP2018
OCT 2016 M&C M&C
ZTE
ZTE
Control plane VNF MANO
Virtual Virtual UME
(L2-L3 and other .. resource .. resource （x86） (CMS)
.. M&C ..
network functions) .. .. M&C
Data Data
store store VNFM
vAN#1 vAN#2
.. PSU .. PSU
Physical resource
.. .. .. .. management &
. . . . control VIM
.. ..
.. .. Data
. . store
Alarms Alarms
pAN#1 pAN#2
L1 interface
MIB/YANG 1:1 modeling
L2-L3 interface
ONT ONT
.. ..
. .
Packet switching ONT ONT
.. PSU .. PSU
. PSU . PSU
ONT ONT
.. ..
. .
ONT ONT
Fig. 1. Implementation of virtual access nodes (vANs) in CloudCO.expert (UME). UME runs on the cloud and consists processes the two layers of abstraction, it supports
of two layers. The southbound or lower layer maps capability adaptation and coupling between pAN and
physical resources, while the northbound or upper layer vAN. The resource isolation level supported by physical
abstracts virtual resources. devices will affect the configuration mode of vAN. For
In its physical resource mapping layer, UME sets example, ZTE’s OLT C300 supports isolation between
up a 1:1 physical access node (pAN) for each physical forwarding instances including VLAN and VRF but not
OLT. By using an independent database to store the between the packet buffer and MAC address table. In a
static configuration and dynamic status information of UME, C300 pAN will display this isolation capability.
every pAN, UME supports the offline configuration When UME manages multiple vANs in the same C300
of physical access devices. Multiple physical resource pAN, it will use the isolation capability and employ
management and control module instances can be techniques like address isolation/arbitration to prevent
created in the physical resource mapping layer of UME. logical resource conflicts between vANs.
Each instance can concurrently manage and control The TITAN-enabled NFV solution has the
multiple and various pAN entities. For example, for following characteristics:
different OLT models (C610, C650, C600, etc.), their ● The virtual resource abstraction layer of UME
software and hardware characteristics are represented provides stakeholders like VNOs with programming
in corresponding pAN data models. In addition, UME interfaces for virtual access devices.
supports multiple pANs that are connected by physical ● The physical resource mapping layer of UME offers
links and can be simulated into one pAN to implement management and control interfaces for physical 23
cluster management and control based on multiple-to- access devices. The plug-ins of a third party can be OCT 2018
one mapping. used to manage access devices of other vendors.
ZTE
In its virtual resource abstraction layer, UME ● UME supports several mapping modes between
extracts pAN instances related to the data model of physical and logical devices, such as one-to-
access-network-sharing services. Such instances include multiple slicing mode (where one physical device
logical Ethernet subinterfaces, forwarding instances, is partitioned into multiple logical devices) and
traffic management (TM) characteristics (scheduling multiple-to-one expansion mode (where multiple
and rate limiting), performance management (PM) physical devices are merged into one logical device).
characteristics (statistics), and alarms. Meanwhile, UME ● The deployment of UME is based on an NFV
ignores the information or characteristic irrelevant to architecture that uses off-the-shelf compute and
the data model of access-network-sharing services, such storage resources. UME supports virtualization
as power supplies, fans and line cards. By combining technologies including virtual machines and
resources as needed, UME creates a logical access containers. Microservices are leveraged to enable
device entity, establishes a data mapping link, and sets independent evolution and flexible expansion of
up a corresponding virtual access node (vAN). Resource different management and control functions as well
combination can be based on a service, a VNO, or as different instances in the UME.
a service of a VNO. UME also uses an independent
database to store every vAN data and supports the offline ZTE’s NFV solution in the access network opens
configuration of logical access devices. Compared with up a path of evolution from a single FTTH scenario
the pAN data model, the vAN data model focuses more to multi-service and multi-tenant scenarios. With the
on service description. For example, vAN in an OLT solution, end users, VNOs and InPs can define their
usually adopts an L2 Ethernet switching equipment own VNFs and build their respective virtual access
model, while related characteristics of L1 interfaces (such networks according to their different roles in the
as PON ports) are kept in pAN. access network. The access network infrastructure will
pAN is an abstraction of a physical device while ultimately be shared by multiple services and multiple
vAN is an abstraction of a logical device. When UME tenants.You can also read
